


The Dream Bride: PROJECT MORPHEUS

by FictionWriterD



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anime, Australia, Conspiracy, Demon, Dream Demon, F/M, Fantasy, Fighting, Forbidden Romance, Greek - Freeform, Harem, Horror, Mages, Magicians, Multi, Realm Hopping, Security, Shared Universe, Succubus, Vietnam, dream realm, korea - Freeform, mafia, star magic, sword battles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 09:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18753202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionWriterD/pseuds/FictionWriterD
Summary: Joia Ti Phan is one of the few experts in a mysterious field of psience known as Dreamscaping, but after a certain event all she wants to do is forget about her time with it. However, after long enough she is pulled back into the field when her former fiance gets in over his head. As she begins her new venture, evidence of a conspiracy makes her question her mission...





	The Dream Bride: PROJECT MORPHEUS

_I am Joia Ti Phan, age 29, a former scientist of Sector 12 and former co-team leader of PROJECT MORPHEAUS._

_I was once that, now I am not._

_I am just a professor at the University of Melbourne, and it is where I intend to stay._

_The past is gone, the memories too tragic to bear, and so I leave them behind as I move forward._

A lecture was being given to the students of the university of Melbourne in Australia, a special lecture about a special subject: the power of the mind over the body. Already deep into her speech, the professor of psychology was speaking with a calm intensity on a subject she had most of her post-college years studying to the packed auditorium.

The professor was Joia Ti Phan, a tall woman with mixed Vietnamese and Australian heritage, long dark brown hair which its length was in a single braid down her back and wore small rimless glasses, and also wore an all-white ao dai (a tight-fitting silk tunic dress with pants) that had black butterfly designs along the bottom of the skirt. To anyone who didn't know any better they would think she was too flashy dressed to be a college professor

In the very back row were a couple of older people in dark suits watching her and due to the lighting she didn't notice them.

As soon as Joia finished her lecture the crowd applauded her and she bowed her head once to thank them, leaving the stage even as the applause continued.

Backstage in the privacy of an empty dressing room, the professor began to pack up her belongings to return home for the day.

A knock on her door got her attention. she answered, "I've no time for interviews right now. Call me later."

From the other side of the door came a female voice, "Professor Phan, we need to talk to you it's for an urgent matter."

Wondering what could be so urgent got Joia's attention and she set her glasses on the desk next to her, "Very well, come on in, but make it quick."

The door opened and in came the two black suited people who had been watching the lecture she had just given.

One was a red headed woman with semi-long hair and the other was a tall gentlemen in a dark grey suit. Both looked to be about the same age as Joia.

The woman held up a badge to Joia, "My name is Cecilia Archer and this is my partner Paul Morrison."

Joia closed her bag and gave a passing glance at the badge, "You with some sort of federal agency to come bother a professor as she is about to leave? What do you need-?"

"We're from Section 12, ma'am," said Paul.

Joia stopped and took a closer look at the badge that Cecilia had shown her. Indeed, the gold and silver badge had the words SECTION 12 etched above the name on the plate.

"I have nothing to talk about. Go." Any hospitality that Joia had just went out the door when she saw that name.

"Sorry but we really to speak with you. We've been trying to track you down for weeks and when we heard you were going to be here this we knew this would be our last chance to speak to you about Project-"

She cut Paul off but slamming her bag onto the floor, "I left Section 12 years ago, lived a rather quiet life as a college professor and now after they let me go they come looking for me? I don't want to be involved with them anymore."

Paul backed off, and Cecilia stepped forward, putting her badge in her breast pocket again, "Professor, the urgent matter concerns Project Morpheus."

Joia returned to packing up her last bag giving a sarcastic laugh when she heard that name, "A child's dream, proper given it is the name of the Greek god of dreams which that pathetic project was named after, did they finally scrap it or is it still just a dream?"

"We can't talk about that here, at least not until you agree to return with us to Section 12," said Cecilia, and she finished with her request. "We came because Section 12 needs your expertise. You are the only one of the Morpheus team we could find, and given your extensive knowledge of the subject, not to mention you are the number one expert on the human mind and it's hidden potential-"

"Anyone with a few degrees in psychology could do what I did during my time in that project. I'm nothing special." Joia zipped up her bag and took her glasses off and set them on the table. "Is that all you need me for? If so, I have to be ready to fly to Okinawa in a few hours."

Paul once again stepped forward, "Ma'am, please come with us, the project needs you-"

"It doesn't need me, not when it has its founder at the helm. He can do everything asked of him except keep promises," Joia replied coldly.

Paul seemed hesitant to respond at first, like something was wrong, "But ma'am he's-"

Cecilia couldn't take it anymore, "Doctor Romi Lane has been in a coma for the last two weeks, Joia."

Joia stopped with her back to the two, and for a moment she a genuine ounce of concern could be found in her voice, "Romi is in a coma? How?"

"Confidential...but it concerns Project Morpheus. You come with us, and we will fill you in on his condition further." Cecilia and Paul stood next to each other and waited for her answer.

'Romi...' Joia's mind became flooded with images and memories of her time spent with who she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She even still had the ring he had proposed to her with, though it was more of a painful reminder than a warming one. "My ex must have gotten himself in too deep if the Project caused him to fall into a coma. Whatever happens to him is of no concern with me."

Paul seemed confused, "Wait you two were married?"

"Going to be, but that was a long time ago," Joia said, putting her glasses back on before grabbing her bags to prepare to leave.

"Three years isn't very long, Joia," said Cecilia.

"It would if you were left at the altar while he ran off to complete an experiment. How would you feel then, Agent Archer?"

Good question that had a justified answer on Joia's part. She and Romi had been partners in Project Morpheus, and over time went from strangers to colleagues to intimate partners, eventually the end result was they were going to be married. It never happened.

Cecilia had no answer for her, she didn't know how the professor felt, nor could she even guess.

"Morpheus was Romi's brainchild, and I always wondered if he preferred his job over everything else. When we got engaged I thought he had changed. Now it's rather fitting how his obsessive passion is going to be his downfall."

That was so cold a chill went through the air.

It seemed to Joia shook her head, tightened her grip on her bags and walked past the two agents. "I've moved on, and while I hope he doesn't die, let him know whenever he wakes up that this is what it feels like when you're left behind."

Cecilia however, pressed her hand to Joia's chest. In her hand was a small envelope addressed to Joia. "He told us to seek you out if anything were to happen to him. This envelope is for you, from him."

Taking hold of the envelope, which contained a few objects Joia offered it back to Cecilia, "He should have asked me himself, then I would have at least considered it."

The agent refused and pushed her hand back, "He insisted we find you. He also said you were the only person in the entire world he would ever share any information on Morpheus with."

Paul stepped forward, "He instructed that we give you something to remind you of your other great passion, should you be hard to convince to join us. We'll be in the city for the next few days, and meet us at the harbor should you change your mind."

Cecilia gave her a convincing look, hoping to change her mind before turning and walking to the door. Paul followed her out and Joia was left alone in the room.

She got a feel of the envelope, light in weight but there was definitely something inside. Tearing it open she expected to find a piece of paper, a letter from Romi asking for her help, but all that was inside was a purple medium sized jigsaw puzzle piece with flowers.

An unusual item to put in a letter, but to Joia she recognized it. She felt overcome with a feeling she had not felt in a very long time. The feeling of tenderness in her chest. 'He kept it...'

One of her favorite pass-times was completing jigsaw puzzles, a proper test of the mind, but it turned into a hobby as well. A hobby she had picked up in her college years, she even managed to put time into them during her years in Project Morpheus.

Ironically enough it was how she met Romi.


End file.
